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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Access card - "gentle death" on the cards?

The sub editor at The Australian who came up with the "Access card on the backburner" headline yesterday (see item below) may have known something, or was more prescient than most (at least me).

Today's reports, including "Access card bill stalled" in AustralianIT are that Cabinet yesterday decided not to proceed with much talked about plans to introduce legislation this month, but instead will release an exposure draft for extended consultation.

Australian Democrats Senator Stott Despoja may be on the money with this comment: "While not shutting the door on it, this may mean a gentle death for the proposal before the election".

As pointed out in today's Australian Financial Review, how would you like to be one of those organisations who have either tendered or planned to tender for the project: they have had to prove they could carry "hundreds of millions of dollars in liability to tender for work, only to be told all bets were off"?

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About Me

Peter Timmins is an Australian lawyer and consultant who works on FOI and privacy protection issues in Sydney, NSW. He has Arts and Laws (Honours) degrees
from the University of Sydney, and has been involved in the FOI field for 25 years.Peter is an experienced public speaker and commentator. See In the News and Testimonials, and Career Summary for more details on background and experience.